ECONOMICS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Dear Boss Man: Stick'em Up! |
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by Chuck Richardson Global Echo Entered into the database on Wednesday, September 07th, 2005 @ 11:23:14 MST |
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This is a stick up. It’s time you recognize my innate dignity.
Why should you have any privileges when you constantly trample on my rights?
Hurricane Katrina was the last straw. It all started with your god, Ronald
Reagan, and his religion of trickle down economics. Now it’s all going
to end with a new system—blow up finances. I know, I know…you say violence is wrong, that I should turn
the other cheek. But I only have two of them (four if you count my overworked
ass). I’ve been bitch slapped and spanked for so long I hardly notice
it anymore. I’ve labored my whole life, but you won’t even let me
see a doctor, get healthy food, or have a subsistence retirement plan. I’ve
sent my sons and daughters to maim and kill other poor folks all over the world,
seen my kin and offspring blown to pieces for your enrichment, watched my parents
and grandparents moved from one nursing home to another as they closed down
to save you money, been arrested and put on trial for getting what I needed,
and ridiculed and laughed at for my bad manners. But enough is enough. I care as much about you as you care about me. I wasn’t
socialized to hide my ruthlessness as effectively as you have. I’ve been
brainwashed to believe if I worked hard, played by the rules, took my vitamins,
went to church and was nice to you I’d be materially rewarded. I’d
been convinced I could pull myself up by my bootstraps, but when I tried to
do that this morning I realized they’d been washed away in the flood,
the waters you so swiftly ran away from. I may be the one who’s all wet
now, but I’m ready to make a big splash. I’m gunning for what you've
stolen from me with all I have. What’s that? You say that’s not much? Well then, let me tell you
what I’ve got. I have you in my crosshairs. I’m your bodyguard,
your cook, your barber. I’m the guy who cleans your pool, the woman who
washes your clothes and takes care of your kids, the doorman who let’s
you in your high rise tower while keeping out your undesirables. I’m the
guy from across town that mows your lawn, the masses that allow you to feel
superior, gifted and worthy. I’m the guy who fixes your car and drives
you around, who calls you sir and treats you with respect. In short, I’m
the one who knows where you sleep, what you eat, when you go to work and come
home, whom it is you love and hang out with, and what you’re doing to
the planet. In other words, I’ve got you more than you got me. I go places
and do things you’re afraid of. Your money has made you a counterfeit
man. You’re nothing without me, but without you, I’m free. You can’t buy me off any longer. Your horded wealth can’t protect
you. Your Lexus and mansion expose you for what you are: A nasty brute with
a me first attitude. Your groupthink puts private wealth above social obligation
and has destroyed any concept of community and shared interests and values.
When disaster strikes, we’re screwed first, but you’re next. If
you can’t share your wealth, we’ll spread our poverty. It’s now obvious that success, or at least your brand of it, is immoral
and unethical. You’ve replaced fairness with greed for too long, now you’re
going to pay for it. When you got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose,
and now you’re going to discover how that feels. Your paying lip service
to equal rights (your belief that we all get what we deserve) is about to bite
you in the ass. It’s now your turn to expose your other cheeks—bend
over and take it like a man. Let’s see how exceptional you really are.
You fought a revolution and forged what you call a great nation because you
didn’t like paying taxes to a distant king. We fought a civil war to end
slavery without pay, you financed it to further line your pockets, realizing
if you gave a lot of people a little bit for services rendered, then we could
buy from you what we made. We now realize that the system you created to protect and enhance your wealth
does not serve us well, that no matter what we do you’ll never let us
join your club. You despise the nouveau riche almost as much as you despise
us. Their hypocrisy hasn’t been refined enough for you yet. Well, I tell you what: Those days are over. Your wage slaves are about to get
in your face. We’re going to take what you’ve been hording and give
it to those who need and deserve it. May your goddess, Ayn Rand, spin in her
grave, as the real Atlas is about to shrug. You can run, but you can’t
hide. The gates of your communities are about to burst like the levies. May your god help you, we won’t. We don't want to be a Hilton as that
causes too much suffering. This isn’t the beginning of some revolution.
It's a crusade. |